WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — Prosecutors said DNA evidence helped investigators connect a man to sex crimes against children that took place more than 10 years ago, and that evidence, in turn, led to indictments against him.
Grand juries in the District and Prince George’s County, Md. indicted Alphonso Owens, 42, formerly of Washington, D.C.
The cases involved home invasions and sexual assaults of children that took place in September and October 2011.
A grand jury in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia indicted Owens on July 27, 2022 for the sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl on Oct. 29, 2011.
Investigators said while the girl was asleep in the ground floor apartment where she lived with her family in the Fort Stanton area of Southeast, Owens went into the home through the girl’s bedroom window. They said he threatened to kill her if she yelled or screamed. Owens supposedly assaulted her sexually, then exited through the window. The girl got her mother out of bed and told her what happened. Her mother called police.
Owens was arraigned on the following charges in the District on Thursday:
- First-degree Sexual Abuse with Aggravating Circumstances (3 counts)
- First-degree Child Sexual Abuse with Aggravating Circumstances (3 counts)
On Oct. 11, in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, a grand jury indicted Owens for an attack on a 10-year-old that investigators said took place in a home invasion on Sept. 26, 2011. The charges related to that case are:
- First-degree Rape
- Second-degree Assault
- Second-degree Sex Offense
- Third-degree Sex Offense
- Fourth-degree Sex Offense
- First-degree Burglary
Owens did not know either child or anyone in either family.
Police believed that the cases may have been connected. Detectives with the Metropolitan Police Department’s Cold Case Sexual Assault Unit submitted evidence for new DNA testing in 2020. Investigators said DNA linked Owens to both cases.
